The Legend
by Metal4k
Summary: Legends have their own destinies. They reach out against the darkness, they fight the floods of evil. They fight to preserve the Light. When darkness touches the realm of science and machines how will they react? How will the Guardian and the Spartan stand?
1. Chapter 1

**The Legend**

 **Chapter 1: The Construct**

* * *

 **Military Calendar:**

 **March 4th, 2931. 22:34**

 **Location: Vault of Glass, Venus.**

* * *

"Kathy, to your right!"

The Hunter, Kathy Rosslyn, ducked under a swipe from a minotaur, rolled between its legs and pointed her shotgun at its face. Bang. The massive machine blew into a million pieces as her void powered shotgun, the Party Crasher, unloaded two shots into it. She glanced at her radar and spun around to face three goblins that had snuck up behind her.

She pulled out her NA3D1 Salvation State Scout Rifle, and with three quick shots, ended the Goblins existence in a brilliant explosion. She reloaded and threw the spent magazine over her shoulder, then looked down her sight towards Atheon.

The monstrous Vex was standing tall, firing its cannon at Marco, the Titan classed guardian on her fire team. The man was right next to the massive Vex machine, hitting it with everything his heavy machine gun, the BTRD-345, had. It ripped and chipped away at the Vex's metal armor but it wasn't enough.

Three orbs of brilliant purple suddenly slammed into the Vex lord and sent it stumbling backwards, allowing Marco a tactical retreat via his glide ability. Next to him landed the Warlock of her team, Leon. He opened fire with his fusion rifle, the Frenzy, and tore Atheon a new one with void ammo.

With a smirk under her exotic helmet Kathy teleported forward and the moment she landed, fired her rocket launcher, the Gjallarhorn. It slammed into Atheons center and detonated its payload.

Atheon's armor ripped and sheared as the three combined their assault. It stumbled back even further up the steps of its lair, right underneath the archway that hung over the stairs.

"Going arc blade." Kathy said over their comm line. She felt the light rush over her and pulled out her dagger as lightning started swirling around her.

She saw Marco rush forward, "I'll loosen it up!" He slammed into the Vex, unleashing the full force of his super charged attack. The lightning and light blasted apart what remained of Atheons armor and the vex started to fire randomly as its systems began to overload.

"I got its gun." Leon announced and his high-powered sniper rifle sounded off six consecutive shots.

Kathy didn't even need to look to know that Atheon's gun was nothing but scrap metal and sparks now. She teleported forward, and instead of doing a normal slash or area attack, she summoned all of her light into her blade and slammed it into Atheon's center with every ounce of her strength.

She cursed as Atheons core detonated in a flash of white light that sent her flying backwards.

Her back hit the front of one of the massive stone pillars behind her team, and she flipped over the top of it. She saw the chasm bellow and looked up to the stone platform floating in the middle of the chasm. She quickly used the last of her light to teleport right to the edge of the platform. She grabbed on at the last second with one hand and pulled herself up.

"Too close." She huffed, laying on her back with an exaggerated sigh.

"Kathy?" Marco called out over the Comms.

She sighed again, "Alive. Just hit my back pretty hard."

"Thank God you're ok." Marco replied. She nodded, though she knew he couldn't see her, and got back to her feet. She made sure her golden white cape was in one piece and made sure her guns were still on her back. Her armor she could repair, those she couldn't.

Once she was finished checking herself over she jumped and teleported back to the entrance to the Glass Throne.

A few moments later Marco and Leon both arrived. Both, just like her, were worse for wear. Their armor's were dented and scorched from all the plasma shots that had hit. Marco was missing a shoulder piece, Leons robe was torn up in almost every area and Kathy's helmet was cracked, and her boots were torn and bloody.

But they had done it.

They had beaten the Vault of glass, beaten the lord of time, Atheon.

"Any idea where their bodies are?"

She looked over at Leon. His arms were crossed and he was looking around, his head hanging a little low. She frowned.

They had won, but lost three other guardians in the process. Three more who had fallen to the darkness.

"No bodies. Saw Gregory fall off the edge. Rodriguez got turned to ash by Atheon's gun. Ashlynn was blown to bits. Poor girl. She was what? Eighteen?" Marco stated before he turned around and brought out his Ghost, Parker.

"Seventeen," Kathy sighed rubbing the back of her neck. Her armor dulled the soothing effect but she still felt the slight massage she gave herself as she thought of death. When a Guardian died their Ghost could revive them, but if the darkness was strong enough the Ghost was powerless and if their Ghost got destroyed then they were lost forever. She had had a few close calls but fortunately she hadn't died yet.

But many of her friends had.

"Lets head back. The Speaker will want to hear about this." Leon stated in his deep, calming voice. He called out his own Ghost named Parsha, while Kathy called upon her own.

Her ghost, Tyrion, appeared in front of her. His outer shell was a mixture of black and blue, the result of an upgrade for him she found a few months ago. He twirled around then floated to a still in front of her, and said, "Ready to go?"

She took in a deep breath then replied, "Yeah. Let's go." She glanced back at her fire team.

"Meet you guys back at the Tower."

And with that she was gone.

* * *

"Eat me Marco. You have no idea if she's even into you."

Kathy bit her lip as she trudged through the dimly lit, white halls of the Lower Tower, Marco and Leon following behind her. She was forced to hold back both a sigh and laugh as Marco and Leon yet again went at it.

"You're a dick. She's totally into me! She agreed to have lunch with me!" Marco exclaimed from somewhere behind her.

"With you and another person. What was his name, Tim?" Kathy said, looking over her shoulder back at the two guardians. Leon was lean, tall, dark skinned and bald with a huge smirk plastered on his face. His armor was repaired and fresh while he carried his helmet under his arm. Marco was olive skinned and smaller than Leon, but had a sturdier build. His armor was slightly banged up still, but that was his style. He had a short buzz cut, a scar across his left cheek and stood taller than Kathy by only a few inches unlike Leon the giant.

Marco growled at her, "Hey at least I've had a date in the past few months!"

She laughed and turned around, "Please. I've had more dates in the past year than you've had in the past ten years."

"Burn." Leon chuckled.

"You're a burn!" Marco exclaimed, his cheeks going red as a beet.

"And you're a child." Kathy rolled her eyes and moved the hand not holding her helmet to the metal sliding door off to her left where a little blue scanner popped up. "Anyway, talk to you guys tomorrow. I'ma hit the hay."

"Lazy." Marco snapped while Leon replied, "Night Kathy."

She nodded and waved her hand over the scanner. It recognized her unique bio signature and opened up. She stepped inside her humble abode and the door closed behind her.

The room was a modest size, fifteen by fifteen. It sported a bed, nightstand, TV, and a closet. A door to the bathroom was on the far side. The lighting was dim, and the air conditioner was blowing cool air through her room. It was clean, and aside from the shattered shotgun framed on the wall, the only miscellaneous stuff she had were the few books on her nightstand and a potted flower.

She sat on the bed and brought Tyrion out.

"Tyrion. Armor please, and make sure you get my helmet repaired before sunrise."

"Of course." Her Ghost replied, then it shined its light over her and her armor vanished. She was left in her undergarments and after Tyrion vanished she pulled out a set of shorts and a T-shirt from her night stand along with new undergarments.

For a few minutes she sat and listened. She listened to the seeping air as it was pumped into her room. She felt the hum of the lights and heard the sounds of laughter from a fellow guardian down the hall. She smelled the essence of a rare earth flower, a rose, that stood on her nightstand.

It was all so peaceful; a perfect contrast to the fighting and death that plagued the solar system beyond the Last City.

Kathy smiled sadly then headed over to the bathroom door in her room. It slid open for her with a almost inaudible sigh then closed just as silently once she was inside.

The space was small. Big enough for maybe one or two people, with a single vanity and drawer, a simple light fixture, toilet, and a walk in a shower that was meant to fit only one person. It was nice overall, with painted white tiles, sleek metal walls and roof, and the fresh smell of flowers from the air freshener that she had installed months ago.

Her eyes traveled to the mirror hanging above the vanity, and she shriveled her nose at the sight of her matted, curly, red hair hanging down past her shoulders. Dried sweet clung to her hair and she ran her hand through it before slipping out of her undergarments. She turned around and waved her hand over a small control panel next to the shower. A light blue display glowed to life and she simply pressed on the touch screen and moved the temperature dial to her preferred setting of ninety nine degrees Fahrenheit. She pressed on another button that powered up the water pressure to enough where it would feel like a light massage.

Once she'd finished setting the shower to her preferred temperatures she pulled open the glass door and slipped inside.

Her muscles instantly relaxed as the water caressed her scared and pale body. The freckles on her right shoulder darkened slightly thanks to the heat, and she leaned against the wall. For a moment she allowed her toned, slim body to relax, the normally tense muscles loosening up and allowing her a brief moment of pure and utter peace.

The moment ended and she washed her hair free of sweet. She washed her body free of sweet then rubbed away the dried blood from her legs and feet, where her armor had been pierced in battle. Her wounds, which had already healed over thanks to the light her ghost provided, were washed clean.

She finished cleaning herself and stepped out of the shower. With a wave of her hand the blue display on her wall disappeared and the shower turned off. She opened the drawer under her vanity and grabbed a towel.

It took a bit, but once she was dried she changed into her new clothes and headed back out into her room.

She grabbed a book off her table, an old Earth book from before the Golden Age called, _The Lord of the Rings._ She checked her bookmark and started up reading again with a smile on her face.

"Hey Tyrion?"

The Ghost appeared. "Mam?"

"Play me some tunes."

"What would you like?"

Kathy bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before she responded, "Play me some soft rock. Old Earth stuff."

"Perfect choice."

She smiled and continued reading the adventures of Frodo and Sam while the song _Jukebox Hero_ played in the background.

* * *

 **Military Calendar:**

 **March 4th, 2558. 18:43.**

 **UNSC Prowler, _The Intent_. **

**Location: Classified.**

* * *

"So those are you plans when we get back for shore leave?" Captain Gregory Holland asked with a smile as he leaned back in the Captain's chair. His crooked teeth and short hair complimented his olive skin and overall relaxed demeanor.

His first mate and second in Command, Lieutenant Jefferson Hills, a dark skinned man with the best personality you would ever meet, laughed and leaned back in his chair at the communications station as he inspected the ring he held. "Yup. Gotta wife her now or she might find so marine prick to get with while I'm gone."

"Homey she's too good for ya anyway! I say fuck her and leave! Bet ya she's gonna leave ya ass when ya get back" Officer Rodriquez yelled out from his seat at the sensors station on the other side of the bridge. He was an olive skinned old man with too little hair and enough wrinkles to make a grape jealous.

"Shut Rodriquez, you wouldn't know a woman's feelings from a can of beer." Petty Officer Linda Pennyworth shouted from her place at the back of the bridge; the weapons station. Besides being in charge of all weapons, her shaved head, and scar across her whole face from a plasma sword that screamed- Don't fuck with me- she was small in stature and light skinned, but the Captain knew she could throw a punch.

"Eh," Rodriquez laughed, "ya probably right! It's why I just sleep with em before they can hurt me again!"

"You're a sour old man you know that?" Sergeant Caitlyn Hanson, the pale skinned, short haired blonde, said from her place against the wall where she was just relaxing and watching the crew go about their day. She was their team leader for any ground operations and was one hell of a marine who also acted as bridge guard. She was nice, and Captain holland had always wondered about the ring she wore on a chain around her neck.

"Psh. I'm sour cause my damn wife screwed more men in the two years I was out fighting the damn Covenant than ya screwed in ya entire life sweetheart." Rodriquez roared in laughter as he winked at Sergeant Hanson. The blonde flipped him off.

She was nice, but everyone was a dick to Rodriquez.

Captain Holland just shook his head and looked out the viewport, into the darkness of space. Twinkling light barely flickered in the vast blackness of space. They were five hundred light years from the nearest colony and he wondered when then next time he would see a civilized planet would be.

They had spent the past three months out here, patrolling the entire outer rim for a traitor of the UNSC in their Prowler, _The Intent_.

On any other ship, they probably all would've been in trouble for goofing around like they were, but truth be told that was just his crew. When it came down to it, they got their work done efficiently and effectively. They had survived the Covenant war, silenced a new insurrectionist group that had been forming on one of the outer colonies, tracked communications between their prey and his allies, and had even taken out a rogue Covenant ship. They never lost, and they didn't have any of those fancy Spartans to help with the odds either. It was why they were sent to keep an eye out on things.

Still, the Captain had to reign in their child play when it got out of hand. Of course this wasn't out of hand. It was normal. Everyone was still watching their stations and sensors, and they joked and talked to pass the time. That was the downside of longterm missions with a small crew.

A crew of twelve to be precise. Him, his bridge crew, the two engineers down in the engine room, the squad of four marines that hung out in the loading bay and training room, and of course their newest addition to the crew-

"Captain, Commander Palmer's headed up here." Lieutenant Hills stated as he looked at his station. The look he gave Holland was one of confusion and disapproval.

"Again?" Sergeant Hanson groaned aloud.

"Probably want's to see if anything new's come up." Officer Pennyworth said from her station as she looked over their weapon status for the umpteenth time.

"Well, there notin new. We haven't even seen another ship in months. Don't even member the last people I saw beside ya people." Officer Rodriquez announced.

"Alice." Captain Holland stated and the smart AI of the Intent appeared in front of him on the holotable that stay before the viewport. The AI liked to take the form of an Asian woman in sleek armor from the feudal days of japan.

The AI smiled at him from her perch, "Sir?"

He got up off his chair and walked over to the holotable. "Any news from HIGHCOM or Lasky?"

"None sir. Orders remain the same. Not surprising, but the deep space anomalies are still occurring. Admiral Osman has sent you a personal message. It's waiting at your private tablet. "

He sighed. "All right. Just keep an eye on everything." He would check the message later. Osman was a dick, and he didn't feel like ruining his good mood with a message from her.

"Sir." Alice replied with a bow before disappearing which he disapproved of. Some AI's took their forms too seriously. Alice was one of them. Maybe he should talk to her about it.

Captain Holland straightened his stance as he brought up several fields on the holotable. He wondered what Osman wanted. The woman was the bane of his existence, but he knew not to cross her. She had taken down that reporter, Benjamin, and that only scared him more. Poor guy. What would happen if he spoke out against her?

He heard Sergeant Hanson coming up behind him and looked back at her when she said, "Sir, if I may ask when will Commander Palmer go back with Lasky?"

"Whenever HIGHCOM tells her too. She was ordered out with us you know that. It's not like she chose it."

"But why her sir?"

"Beats me. Probably has to do with the assassination attempts by one one seven at the peace talks." The Captain responded shortly.

"So in case he's somewhere out here in the middle of nowhere Palmer can take him down? He's the Master Chief. I don't care what her record is but she won't stand a chance."

Hanson sighed when he failed to reply, then rubbed the back of her neck before she continued. "Do you believe it sir? That _he_ did it? Killed all those people?"

"Doesn't matter what I believe. HIGHCOM wants him."

Then with a hiss, the doors to the bridge opened up and they both turned around to see Commander Sarah Palmer walk in. She was fully armored, minus her helmet, and her gaze was cold. She walked over to them and looked at the files. "Do we have any new leads?"

"None. Still looking." Captain Holland informed.

"Keep me updated." Palmer then turned away from them and walked back out of the bridge. It was a daily thing she did. She came up to see if there was any news and if there wasn't, which there hadn't been for three months, she would leave and go back to training. Why she armored up none of them knew.

"I don't like her." Hanson stated once the Spartan was gone.

Holland laugh darkly. "You don't like Spartans period."

"I like the Chief."

"Everyone does." Holland smiled sadly. The Savior of humanity, Petty Officer Master Chief-117. A man they all admired. A man they had to hunt down. Life was funny that way.

"Sir, I just got a ping!" Officer Rodriquez called out.

Holland's brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"No idea."

"Alice do we have visual?" He asked.

The AI appeared on the holotable again and stated, "No sir. The construct is too far out and too small for anyone to see without aid."

"Construct?" He asked.

"Eight by ten sir, made of an unknown metallic element… Which is strange to say the least." Alice replied.

He placed his hand on his chin and thought. "How far out is it?"

"Four thousand six hundred and twenty eight meters off our starboard side."

The Captain gawked. That was close. Way too close for comfort. "How the hell did it get so close without us noticing?"

"I'm still investigating sir. It could have a stealth function." Alice replied.

Rodriquez laughed. "We're manning a prowler! The most advanced stealth ship in the galaxy! How the hell could that thing slip past us!"

Ignoring his subordinate Captain Holland ordered, "Bring us around so we're facing it. I want to get a clear line of sight." His crew followed his commands and the Intent slowly turned to face whatever this construct was. The flickering lights of stars slipped by as the ship turned, the back void of space never leaving the viewport.

"Sir! I'm picking up an electromagnetic gravity field!" Lieutenant Hills announced, a slight edge in his voice.

"Slip space drive just powered up!" Officer Pennyworth informed. Holland looked back at her in horror. "Alice what're you doing?"

"Nothing sir. It's not me!"

"What?" He asked looking at the AI.

"No one aboard this ship has accessed any slip space functions, and I can't access the slip space drive or any related functionalities. Something's blocking me." The AI stated. Her head was lowered as she obviously tried to figure out what was happening.

"Rodriquez, Alice, shut down the drive now! Get the engineers on it! Hills, Pennyworth, enemy contacts?" Captain Holland called out.

"No sir. We're alone with the constrict!" Pennyworth replied.

Hills then spoke, "Sir, gravitational field is expanding! We're being pulled towards the construct!"

"Alice put all power into our engines. Get out us out of here!"

The AI didn't respond but he had faith in her. He looked out the viewport and outside everything was calm. Nothing stirred in the void of space. Suddenly the ship trembled, sparks flying from the light fixtures and several consoles, while red alarms started blaring.

"Sir, we just lost all engine power!"

"Alice!" He roared.

The AI finally responded, "Sir, I've lost access to all engine functions. Whatever's blocking me out doesn't want us going anywhere." For their AI to sound worried left Hollands heart plummeting. He looked around. They'd lost engine's and lost control of the slip space drive.

"Pennyworth get me weapon's solutions on that construct. Let's blow it to hell!"

"Sir, all weapons systems just went offline!"

"Communications are gone!"

He growled. "Is anything working?"

"Life support and shields are stable!"

He stared out to where he hoped the construct was. Every time humanity ran into an unknown construct or machine it ended badly. Halo was the first example of that. Requiem that last.

"Pull all power from non essential systems and reroute it to life support and shields. Send out every beacon we've got!" He ordered rushing over to his chair and strapping himself in.

"Launching beacons." Alice replied. "All power is being diverted to life support and shields."

"Sir, the field is expanding! I'm getting slip space fluctuations that aren't coming from our drive!" Hills said looking back at his Captain. Holland just shook his head. He was lost. He'd been in firefights, in battles that would scar most men, but this was different. Here he was and his ship was completely out of his control. What sacred him is that even his smart AI had no idea what was happening.

What could baffle an AI like that?

There was a silence and he looked up. A massive hole in space, black, and swirling with purple and red clouds around it, wavered right before his ship. It completely took up the entire viewport and the stars were no longer visible.

Something told his hands to grab on to his chair. He did. "Brace!"

Then their world shook. Metal trembled, sirens wailed, screams and commands filed the air, hands grabbed onto anything for support, lose objects flew all around, and the black void of space swallowed the ship whole. Then it slammed shut in a bright flash of white.

Stars twinkled.

Nothing stirred.

Only a beacon floated outwards, pinging and calling help for a ship that no longer existed in its universe.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Hello everyone. So I decided, why not bring together Bungie's greatest creation, Halo, with their next big thing, Destiny. Most major characters from Halo will appear, and this story will take place after Halo 4 and the escalation comics. I may add elements of Halo 5, but that'll have to wait till the game actually comes out.**

 **Thanks for reading! God bless!**

 **-Metal4k**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Legend**

 **Chapter 2: The Hive**

* * *

 _Kathy yanked her helmet off, the burning hole in the faceplate making it obsolete. She gazed around her, watching as four other guardians fought tooth and nail against a wave of Hive soldiers that had ambushed them on the moon, right next to the endless chasm in the ocean of storms._

" _Kathy!" Her eyes went to the chasm._

 _She teleported forward. Her hands reached out for the Warlock dangling off the side, holding onto a lower ledge for dear life. She saw his eyes, his green eyes begging for her to save him._

 _She pushed herself closer to the edge and reached for the mans hand. He was too far._

" _Save yourself Kathy." The man smiled._

 _She could only stare and slammed her dagger into the floor next to her. "To hell with that." And she lowered herself even further, her cloak wildly fluttering in the air. She strained, her muscles ached, her body torn in pain, but she reached. She wouldn't give up._

" _Kathy."_

" _Don't you dare!" She yelled, she powered up her light, using the power of Arc Blade to prepare a teleport. If she was quick enough she could save him and get back up top. The blood leaking from the Warlocks back and left arm showed how injured he was. She had seen his Ghost die trying to save him. He couldn't fly on his own so it was up to her had to save him. She had to._

" _Don't forget." He smiled at her, his olive skin shining for a moment in the pale light._

 _His hand loosened its grip. "I-"_

 _Then she was standing, looking towards the inner parts of the Tower from her perch at its far edge._

 _It was Atheon. He stood tall, his gun blazing and she turned to see what he was shooting at._

 _The Last City. Her city. It was burning. The Traveler was a black husk, sitting in the middle of the city, crushing the remnants of humanity from its fall. Something stirred behind her and Atheon roared._

 _Her instincts screamed at her to run. She tried to teleport but she couldn't. Her legs, her light failed to respond and she could only look behind her to see the darkness encroaching on the city. It started to swallow everything. She looked around and saw Guardians standing with the Fallen and the Cabal, shooting everything they had at the darkness._

 _She saw the Hive and the Vex pouring out of the darkness in numbers she couldn't fathom._

 _Why would they stand together?_

 _The darkness swelled and a gas spewed from it and covered the remains of the Fallen, Cabal, and Guardian forces._

 _She turned again and she was no longer on the Tower. She was on a field._

 _Bodies, thousands of them, littered the ground. They piled up into a massive hill. Fallen, Guardians, Cabal, Vex, and Hive were all thrown together, their bodies ripped to shreds and pieces, with blood flowing down the hill in slow streams._

 _She looked closer at the top. She saw a person, a Guardian with a cloak fluttering behind them standing on the top._

 _Her vision suddenly moved then she was atop the hill of bodies. She could she far and wide. The sky was burning, the clouds were gone, the Traveler a husk of black, and all around million of bodies. Not just of soldiers, but of women, children and men. They were all dead._

 _Nothing stirred but the wind and she looked to the last person standing._

 _A torn, blood soaked, golden cape. A dagger in one hand, and a rifle in the other. Red hair._

 _She gasped. Then as she stepped back and the person turned she_ —

"Kathy."

The Guardian shot out of bed, lightning and light swirling around her as her body reacted to a non existent threat. She landed in a roll and looked up with gasping breaths to see Tyrion floating by her bed as he studied her.

"Are you all right?"

She slowed her breathing and once she noticed the Arc Blade power coursing through her body she relaxed then shut her powers down. Once she did that she leaned her head back and sighed, "I'm fine."

Her Ghost floated down to her. "I was detecting elevated levels of stress and brain activity. It seems you were having a nightmare."

She laughed. "Nightmare's one way to put it."

"Well," Her ghost sighed, "you have a message."

"Is that why you woke me?"

"That, and I figured being awake was better than tossing and turning all night." Her Ghost glowed a little brighter and she nodded at him to proceed.

The Ghost floated higher and said, "the Speaker's called your fireteam to meet up with him."

"Are you serious?" Kathy growled.

"Yes."

She bit her cheek, got to her feet, then headed into the bathroom as her Ghost followed. She turned on the water faucet and splashed water on her face. It was cold, and cleaned away the fresh sweat she had gathered from her dreams. "We just destroyed Atheon and now he wants to send us back out? It hasn't even been a day! Hell we spent three days in the fucking Vault!"

She glared at her own reflection and noticed a zit. Damn stress.

"It's not just your team he called in. He called in fireteam Exo, fireteam Infinite, and fireteam Foxtrox as well. Whatever's going on he apparently needs all of you for it."

She raised an eyebrow at her Ghost. Never had four teams been called in. The only time three fireteams had ever been sent anywhere was when fireteam's Infinite, Knifestrike, and Forza were sent in to kill the Heart of the Black Garden. Only Infinite had come out alive. It was why they had the rep as the best fireteam alive. That and the fact they had apparently defeated the Black Heart all alone since the other fire teams had died early on. They had apparently carried on despite the losses and saw the mission through. The Ghosts even confirmed their story.

"Fine." She got to her feet. "Tell him I'll be there in five."

* * *

"So why the hell did he call in twelve Guardians? Isn't that a bit of overkill? I mean for Atheon it only took six of us." Marco stated from behind Kathy as the three of them walked into the Speakers grand office within the Northern Tower.

Leon glanced back at him, "And half of us died fighting him."

"Maybe its another general from the Cabal?" Kathy asked quietly as she looked around and saw how the other three teams were already there.

"Doubt it. Infinite took out that guy on Mars all by themselves. Remember the vid they showed?" Leon responded.

Marco chuckled, "How could I forget? Those asses kept bragging about it for weeks."

She shook her head but surprised a laugh. It was true that fireteam Infinite could make asses out of themselves. They were cocky, a little arrogant, but fun. They were three titans all wielding arc lightning over their void defender powers, and had a reputation for using no tactics and just rushing in a ripping everything in their path apart. Somehow they had beaten the Cabal Fleet Commander Valus Ta'aurc, just like the Heart of the Black Garden.

"And what about you Marco, taking out the God of time ain't good enough for ya?" Another Guardian, a blue haired, pale human Warlock named Becky, from fireteam Foxtrot, laughed as she walked over to Kathy and her team.

"Fuck you Becky." Marco laughed good naturally at the warlock. The rest of fireteam Foxtrox, another warlock named Alice who specialized in the power of the void like Leon and a titan named Gorvon who preferred using the void powered defender, walked up to her team.

Gorvon, a seven foot tall awoken with white hair and green eyes, moved over to Kathy specifically and said, "Kathy, good to see you in one piece. Missed you at the bar last night. These two kept bragging how you kicked some ass."

She smiled at him and returned the fist bump he offered, "Oh you know Marco. Likes to talk out of his ass and Leon's just being nice."

"What the hell Kathy?" Marco cried.

"Haha! Good to see you three are still up and kicking. Sucks about Bernie's team. He was a good guy." Gorvon sighed, his smile turning dark.

She nodded, "Yeah they were, but we kicked Atheon's ass for them. I'm sure they'll get their own payback in the afterlife."

"Right on." The giant patted her on the back and the two turned towards the group of four that had formed out of their fireteams other members.

She and Gorvon listened in on their conversations and even joined in for a few topics but her true attention was directed towards fireteam Exo. As stated by their name they were an entirely Exo composed team: one hunter, one titan, and one warlock. Their team had two females and one male, and she had never figured out if it was coincidence or on purpose, but team Exo used the powers that were directly opposite her own teams.

Varric, their male hunter, wielded the light gun and was an expert killer at long range. Their Warlock, a female Exo named Lilly, specialized in wielding sunsinger over Leon's void powers. Of course their Titan Astrid focused in sheer heavy weapons like Marco but used the void to create defensive barriers instead of using arc energy to obliterate her enemies.

It did make for interesting matches whenever the two teams faced one another. Fireteam Infinite was definitely the best team overall, always beating any and every team they came in contact with, though in single combat they lacked skill, and after them team Foxtrox took the rank of the second best team in the Crucible, while her team and team Exo always fought for third place.

Their matches with Exo were always the best, always close and always full of vicious fights.

Her gaze hardened when their hunter Varric moved slightly and met her eyes. They stared at one another and he nodded. She returned the gesture and the two turned back to their respective fireteams. She didn't like him, but they were at least civil.

"Guardians."

The voice echoed through the Speakers chambers, bouncing off the walls and filling their minds.

Kathy looked up and watched as the Speaker made his way down the stairs from his private room. He was tall, and held a grace about him. But that was expected from the man who spoke for the Traveler itself.

He climbed down to where they were and the fireteams slowly gathered around him. She, unfortunately had to stand next to Varric who crossed his arms in response to being next to her.

She ignored him as the Speaker spoke. "Thirty minutes ago our long range scanners picked up a ship entering Earths atmosphere."

She narrowed her gaze. One ship? Unless it housed another being like Atheon there was no need for four fireteams, yet alone the best four teams in the Tower and Crucible.

"The ship does not match any signatures from the Vex, Cabal, Hive, or Fallen. It is an unknown entity. Whether it is a new ship from the darkness, or a lost Guardian, we must be certain it is of no threat to the city."

She leaned on one foot and crossed her own arms. This was going to be an interesting mission to say the least.

"The ship crash landed in the ruins of Old England, in the midst of the ruble from the Golden Age."

One member from fireteam Infinite spoke up, "Old Erupoe? We've never been out that far."

"We have." Lilly, the leader and warlock from team Exo stated. "Filled with Fallen, but no Vex or Cabal at least. The subways though are home to a few groups of Hive."

"Guardian Lilly is right. Fallen and Hive do occupy the area. Now, no lifeforms have been detected leaving the ship, but we need to get onboard and ensure the ship is not a threat to us. The coordinates have been sent to your Ghosts. Good luck Guardians." Then the Speaker turned away from them and headed right back towards his private room, his hands clasped behind his back.

"First one there gets to keep any ascendant energy found!" The Titan named Gregory yelled with a fist in the air. The rest of fireteam Infinite cheered with him and sprinted out of the room as fast as they could, yelling as they went.

Kathy shook her head. They were children.

Leon sighed, "does anyone else wonder how on earth they're still alive?"

She barely managed to hold back her laugh.

* * *

 **Military Calendar:**

 **March 5th, 2931. 10:34.**

 **UNSC Prowler, The Intent.**

 **Location: Earth. European Continent.**

* * *

"Holy hell."

Those were the first words Captain Holland heard when he came too.

"What the fuck just happened?" Rodriquez announced with a groan.

"Alice?" Captain Holland coughed as he pulled himself off the floor. How he ended up there was anyone's guess.

It took a few moments and suddenly a few lights powered up, giving the bridge an ominous glow. The viewport was covered with something that blocked out any visual of the outside and sparks still flew out from several computers and consoles around the bridge.

Then the AI appeared on the holotable. Her avatar flickered before she spoke. "We crash landed exactly ten point three hours ago. The crew was rendered unconscious during crash landing as has been in that state till now."

He noticed how the rest of his crew was slowly getting to their feet, groaning complaints as they did so.

"Curious how all of you woke up and were rendered unconscious at the same exact time." Alice pipped in. Her brow furrowed and the Captain stumbled over to her. His legs felt like jelly and his head was still spinning. The crash had certainly done a number on him.

"Where'd we crash?" He managed with a cough, pulling up a diagnostics file over the holotable as he leaned over it.

He inspected the file while Alice replied, "Earth, sir."

There was silence.

"What did you say?" Lieutenant Hills asked from where he sat at his station, rubbing his temples as if he heard wrong.

"We crashed on Earth, and before you ask, there's something I need to show you." The AI enlarged her hologram so the others would have an easier time seeing what she was about to show them. Captain Holland stepped back as she continued, "Whatever happened, our clock jumped forward. At first it jumped forward by four hours and fifty one minutes."

She waved her hand and a digital clock appeared over the table. "Making the time what is now. After a few minutes I had received no transmissions from any UNSC or UEG source, so I tried to connect to the Orbital Defense Grid or any satellites. Unfortunately, I found no trace of the Grid or any UNSC held satellites. In fact I no trace of UNSC or UEG signals, broadcasts, or Comms throughout the planet. They're just, gone."

"Wait, wait, wait," Officer Pennyworth stated getting up from her seat and walking over to the holotable where the Captain and AI stood. "You're saying we're on Earth, but there's no UNSC?"

"Yes."

"That's not possible. Like seriously. It's Earth." The bald woman replied.

"Unless the Didact attacked us again and composed the whole planet." Hills suggested.

"Impossible." Alice interrupted, "even if he had composed the whole planet there should still be satellites or machines running on whose signal I could, in a sense, surf on to gather information. It doesn't make sense. There should be something." The AI sounded frustrated and Holland wondered how much it took to make a smart AI that frustrated.

"But if there's nothing here… Are you sure we're on Earth?" Sergeant Hanson asked in disbelief. Her face was slightly green and the Captain wondered if she was going to loose her breakfast.

"Yes. I failed at first to find any UNSC signals or Comms channels, but I went to a broader spectrum and picked up something. The new signal I found run on a spectrum I can't even access. I could only pick up bits of chatter, but I couldn't listen in permanently or break in to gather any information. I was able to use our own communications to bounce off these signals so I could gather more information from other sources I found were accessible."

"What did you find?" The Captain inquired.

The AI hesitated and his heart dropped. "Sir, the only long range signals I can access are all located in Russia, to a place referred to as the Last City which is how I found out we were on Earth. From what I could gather through the few signals I _could_ access its the only human inhabited place on earth."

"The Last City?" Rodriquez gawked, "Like hell."

"So you're saying we're on earth, but there's no UNSC, but there is this place, only one place, that has humans in it?" The Captain asked. He had a headache.

"Yes and there's more." Alice sighed. "I looked further into the signals I could access and discovered something…"

"What's worse than finding out the UNSC don't exist? If that's even possible." Hanson rolled her eyes. She didn't believe any of it. It had to be a trick.

"The current date is 2931."

Everyone looked at Alice, most with disbelief, but the Captain's face was one of thought and shock. She could tell his mind was running like crazy.

"I'm calling it. She's defective." Hanson said with a frown.

"Rampant's a more like it." Rodriquez growled.

Alice turned to Rodriquez. "I assure you my expiration date will not occur for another five years, two hundred thirty five days, four hours and-"

"We get it. You're not rampant." Pennyworth announced with a frustrated sigh.

The Captain sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Alice, what else?"

"From what I could gather there-" She suddenly cut off, her eyes closing in concentration. "Radar has something. We have inbound."

His eyes went wide. "How many?"

"Three ships sir. They're moving fast, but I can't access the personal signals they're broadcasting."

"Let me guess, same signals as the long range ones you couldn't access?"

"Yes sir."

"Great." He sighed. "How long?"

"At their current speed speed it will take roughly ten minutes." Alice replied with a questioning look.

Captain Holland nodded. He stared at the holotable, hand under his chin, thinking and planning. There were so many unknown variables.

Where were they? Alice said Earth, but that was impossible. No UNSC communications? No rescue teams? Only one city that had humans on it? Impossible. It was just impossible. He didn't know what to think. Maybe something interfered with Alice, or there was a planet vastly similar to Earth and their AI just mixed the two up.

But she had said Russia. From his studies he knew that was a country of Earth a long time ago. Only on Earth.

"Any idea if they're friendly?" He asked looking at Hanson and giving her a nod. The Sergeant nodded back and sprinted out of the bridge.

"I can't tell. There are several factions on Earth but the only one with humans is a group called Guardians. A third of them are human, the others are something else. Whether or not they're friendly to us is unknown, but they don't seem to take to invaders very lightly. Either way, I don't know whose heading towards us." Alice informed.

"At least we're not invaders." Hill responded standing up.

Holland shook his head. "They don't know that."

* * *

 **Military Calendar:**

 **March 5th, 2931. 10:49.**

 **Location: Earth. European Continent.**

* * *

"Hey Kathy. Any idea how much longer till we get there?" Marco called out over the Comms channel as Kathy's sparrow roared over a large boulder, using it as a ramp.

She landed with a clunk on the old streets of London and grinned as she sped up to catch up with team Infinite who was at the head of their column. "Probably a few minutes why?"

"Cause we've been riding for like twenty. Why the hell didn't we just use the ships to drop us off right next to the thing?" The titan asked.

Leon replied for her, "Because if that ship's hostile and they have anti air then our ships are going bye bye."

"Don't be a dick about it."

"Don't be an idiot."

She sighed, "guys."

Suddenly the leader of team Infinite, Jorah, raised a fist as they approached the crest of a large debris riddled hill. She slammed on her brakes and her sparrow skid to a stop right next to him and his team. The others came to a stand still behind them except for the leader of Exo, Lilly. The female ex stopped next to Kathy and Johnathan and asked, "Why'd we stop?"

"Listen." Jorah said. Kathy raised an eyebrow behind her helmet but none the less listened. She waited for a few moments, listening to the birds and sound of wind till she heard the faint roars and grunts.

"Fallen." Kathy whispered.

"Where?" Gorvon, who had rode up next to them while they were listening, asked.

"Where do you think." Lilly hissed.

Jorah didn't reply and dismounted his sparrow. His team and the others followed suit and all dropped to a crouch.

"I'll check it out." Kathy said. She didn't wait for a reply and turned invisible.

She heard someone say something about hunters cheating with their abilities but ignored the quirk as she climbed over the hill and looked down below.

Her eyes went wide when she saw the size of the ship. It was at least five times bigger than her own and was jet black. It was crashed at an angle, tearing apart hundreds of feet of ground, and its front was under tons of dirt and concrete. What really got her attention though were the Fallen troops lining up outside.

She counted five captains, twenty vandals and plenty more dregs and shanks. A few servitors floated off to the sides, patrolling. She studied their movements and laid down as her invisibility ran out.

From what she could tell they were preparing to breach and from the looks of the Captain with the scorch canon, it looked like he was about to blast a hole in the ships side. She wondered if the canon would be able to do it, but decided it didn't matter and slipped back over the hill to the eleven guardians waiting on the other side.

She got back to a crouch and made her way to Jorah and the other fire team leaders. "We have fallen. A least five captains and over forty other targets. It looks like they're preparing to breach the crashed ship. Several servitors are patrolling the perimeter but the rest are focused on the ship."

"At least we know it's not one of theirs." Gorvon added.

"Ok." Jorah started. "Kathy take your team over there." He pointed to a building on their left overlooking the small, football sized, valley the crashed ship had made. "I want you to get their attention however you can. Snipers and scout rifles. Distract them, then team Exo I want you to go over on the right."

He nodded towards the street filled with abandoned cars to their right. "Use heavy weapons to hit them while their backs are turned. Then team Foxtrox and mine will come over the hill and hit them with automatics while they're disoriented."

"Warlocks should use their supers." Gordon added. "The added strength of the sunsinger and the voidwalker should help decimate their ranks."

"Agreed." Jorah nodded. "Kathy, you have five minutes before Exo moves."

"We'll be there in two." She turned away and jogged back to her team, leaving the others behind. She pulled out her scout rifle and motioned for her team to get off their speeders and follow her. They followed and she lead them back a few hundred feet before stopping.

She held up a hand and they halted, covering their flanks while she crawled up a mound of debris. She looked at their target building through her enhanced scope. It was a few stories tall like she had initially seen. The far end facing the valley and ship was gutted open like a fish, the insides of the building being exposed to the elements, and gave a perfect vantage point over the fallen troops.

A ruined street with abandoned cars ran parallel to it and she studied it for a few moments before she found what she was looking for then slid back down her teammates.

She landed next to Marco and pointed up at the mound, "over the mound, theres a field of scorched cars but at the end of the line there's broken down bus. Its big enough that if we climb on top we can jump up to the building where its cracked open. If we're careful we could surprise the Fallen."

"Well we're just a distraction right?" Marco added, the drop of venom lacing his words masked by his cheery tone.

"Basically." Kathy replied with pursed lips. "Come on." She led her team over the mound and into the trail of cars. They stayed low, sprinting through the cars as they raced towards the building. Marco charged through, Leon sprinted, and Kathy weaved through the metal husks.

The battle ready woman slid past another broken down truck and activated her camouflage. She blended in with her environment and sprinted faster than either of her counter parts right past several more cars and to the bus she had seen. She teleported to the roof then teleported right up into building.

Dust gusted out as she gently landed on the old concrete floor. It groaned but held her weight. She moved forward, hoping the fallen failed to here Marco and Leon's lift as they floated into the building after her.

Her footsteps were quiet as she quickly rounded corner after corner till she was finally able to the see all the Fallen troops with ease. She crouched behind the remnants of a shattered wall, placed her scout rifle on a crevice the wall formed and aimed.

It was easy to hear Marco and Leon get themselves set up.

"On my mark."

She checked her clock. It had taken them three minutes and fifteen seconds to get in position. A bit longer than she had hoped.

"Fire."

Bang. Bang. Two shots took out two vandals and the explosive ammo she had equipped knocked several other fallen troops away.

A shot from Leon's sniper ripped open a Captains head.

Four more shots from Marco pulse rifle knocked out another Captains shields.

It was then the Dregs panicked and ducked for cover. Vandals return fire or dodged the next shots, and the Captains took the brunt of their assault by moving up and firing their heat cannons at her team.

She ducked as a vandal sniper tried to take off her head then reloaded. She popped back over and ended the snipers existence with one shot. She turned her sties towards another vandal and blasted it to hell.

Several bolts of heat cannon ripped into the wall she used for cover. Her shields flared and she teleported forward, behind a larger, more intact wall to escape. She reared her head around the wall and let out a few more shots before pulling back behind her cover. She could see her team doing the same, moving back and forth between cover as they all picked off Fallen troops.

"When the hell is Exo gonna move in?" Kathy muttered to herself as she brought down three more dregs. Purple energy salvos from the Servitors slammed into her cover and knocked her down.

She quickly teleported off the ground and into the air. She fired off two more shots that shook the Servitor before landing and slid back behind another broken wall.

"Those dicks always make us work the most." Marco roared, though it was cause of his adrenaline rather than actual anger. She could here his pulse rifle firing away like a mad man. He was a bit of a trigger hog.

Kathy ignored the urge to reply and instead switched to a sniper rifle. Welding Her Benevolence, she blew off the heads of two dregs, a vandal, then another dreg. She reloaded, her invisibility briefly rendering her unseeable till she fired once more.

The shield of a Captain fell. Then she took off its head. She aimed at a servitor that had just turned its gaze to her.

Then it exploded. She backed off the sites on her gun, and watched as two more rockets slammed into the group of Fallen from the other side of the small valley.

One of her teammates chuckled, "about damn time."

She could only nod in agreement before continuing her consecutive take down of the Fallen forces.

It was then she saw the combined fire of fireteams Infinite and Foxtrox. The auto weapons and then the purple orbs from the supers of the warlocks ripped apart at least ten fallen on the initial assault.

She shot six more times then stood up as the last Captain was taken down but Marco's pulse rifle.

The Comms came to life with Jorahs voice, "Kathy you and your team stay back. Give us cover for when we breach the ship."

"Jorah," she started, "are you sure breaching is the best idea?"

"What other option do we have?"

"Quarantine. We don't know whats in there. We could quarantine it, and get the research teams to come investigate."

She watched as the two fireteams walked through the Fallen carnage and closer to the ship. She could see Jorah and Gorvon walking together at the head of the group. Jorah replied, "its too risky and it would take too long to get them here."

"And I'm almost a hundred percent sure more Fallen are on the way." Gordon added.

She sighed. They were right.

"All right then I'm coming down there."

"Kathy-"

"Look," she said as she teleported to the edge of the building and leapt down to the valley. "If we want to breach fine. But if anyones going in first it should be the one who can turn invisible."

Gorvon chuckled, "she has a point."

"All right." Jorah replied as Kathy made her way through the small valley, over the fallen bodies, and to the team of six that stood only a dozen feet away from the side of the crashed ship. She couldn't help but admire the size. The metal was black, sleek, and looked almost impervious to damage.

She stopped next to Jorah and cradled her sniper in her arms. "So how do we breach?"

"Like this."

She turned around and quickly stepped back as one of Infinite's titans raised up a scorch cannon from one of the Fallen captains, and fired. It slammed against the hull of the ship, and the heat ate away at the metal but did nothing more than scratch its surface.

Kathy rolled her eyes. "You really think that's gonna do anything more than dent it?"

The Titan turned to her. "Well if we hit with it more than once it could."

Gorvon then added, "if we use our supers we could weaken the amor enough for the heavy weapons to do the rest."

"The Ghosts could try to cut through." Jorah suggested.

She shook her head. "We-"

"Guys."

Leon's voice suddenly came on over the Comms. Immediately they froze and stared at each other in confusion. His voice was on edge, and they all knew something was wrong.

"Step away from the ship."

"Leon?" Kathy asked as the group took a step back.

She saw the look her fellow Guardians gave her but ignored them and looked back at the building she had been in. She saw Leon. He was at the edge of the ship, his hands raised in the air and a gun pointed at his temple. Marco was on the other side of him pointing his own pulse rifle at whoever was aiming a weapon at their friend.

Her eyes narrowed and she zoomed in on Leon's captor with her own rifle. Thick armor, colored a dull white, covered what she figured was a woman. A woman who was as tall as Leon, with a menacing angled helmet that was looking directly at her and the others.

"Leon," she said softly, "who the hell is that?" Her finger hovered above the trigger. The only reason she didn't shoot was because Leon was being held in front of the woman with a gun on his helmet. If she shot she could miss, or the shot could hit Leon, or the woman could put a bullet in Leon's head. If she was holding a hand cannon at that close of a range it would blow Leon's head off.

"No idea." The man replied.

She briefly considered going invisible and sneaking up on the woman, but knew that wouldn't work. The woman could see her, and turning invisible now wouldn't do any good.

Suddenly a woman's voice filled the air. "Drop your weapons."

Kathy grit her teeth and could see the other guardians simply raise their weapons in defiance, all of them aiming at Leon and his captor. She wondered what Exo was doing.

"And who," Jorah started, his own helmet amplifying the volume of his voice as he took a step forward, "do we have the pleasure of speaking to?"

"I'm Commander Sarah Palmer of the United Nations Space Command. Now I suggest you drop your weapons before I blow your friends head off." To emphasize her point she pushed the gun against Leons helmet.

Kathy lowered her gun slightly but didn't drop it.

Again Jorah spoke, "Commander Palmer, I'm Jorah Helson. Guardian of the Last City and leader of fireteam Infinite. Who about you drop you weapon and we talk this out like civilized people?"

"You first."

The titan laughed. "You're outnumbered and outgunned. Why would we?"

"Because my people have you surrounded."

Kathy spun on her heel, raising her gun in the process, and scanned their surroundings. She saw no one. Was the woman bluffing?

"My people are hidden in the buildings. Sniper's, and Rocket Launchers. You make any sudden moves and they'll blow you apart. So I suggest you drop your weapons." The woman named Sarah Palmer ordered.

She exchanged a look with Jorah. They had Leon, and apparently had them surrounded. She was sure she and Gorvon could get away with teleportation, but the other were sitting ducks.

They had no choice. She raised her hand and her gun in a sign of surrender. The others followed her lead.

She was about to put her weapon down when Tyrion's voice spoke up over her private Comm line to him. "Kathy I've got movement."

She froze in her tracks. "What movement?"

"Satellites show that three fallen ships are headed this way, and the Hive are moving too. A least a hundred of them are coming here through the subway systems and the nearest entrance is right over there."

A waypoint appeared on her hud and she could she the entrance was at the far end of the building Leon and Marco were in.

It was about to be a shit storm.

"Jorah."

"I know. My Ghost just told me." He replied raising his weapon once more, but this time towards the subway entrance.

Kathy took the lead and kept her weapon up, but walked forward with one hand still raised in surrender. "Commander Palmer, I don't know if you have any sensors on that ship, but we've just been informed that more of those guys," she pointed to a dead Captains body, "are on the way. And worse are coming through the subways."

She pointed to the subway entrance.

"Let my guy go and we'll help you fend them off."

It was silent. The Commander was taking her time and Kathy was getting anxious. She bit her lip as her eye locked onto the subway entrance.

"Kathy." Tyrion prodded. "They're almsot here!"

She groaned under her helmet then spoke up again. "Commander they're almost here!" She then aimed her weapon at the subway.

Still the Commander didn't speak.

"Kathy! There's another entrance!" Her eyes went wide and she immediately followed the waypoint. She saw it. Right next to the ship, only a hundred or so feet from them, buried under a few pieces of ruble.

Suddenly the ruble blew apart and she saw the darkness seep out as shrieks filled the air.

She opened fire.

"Hive!"

* * *

 **A/N Hey guys. Here's chapter two. Hope you enjoy! God bless and thanks for reading!**

 **\- Metal4k**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Legend**

 **Chapter 3: Cayde's surprise**

* * *

"So you're telling me, _The Intent_ , just vanished?" Captain Thomas Lasky whispered to Roland, the native smart AI of the _Infinity_.

The AI nodded and pulled up another file, this one a log of emergency beacons sent out by the missing prowler. "That's what I'm getting from these beacons. The logs indicate that the ship started to experience gravity manipulations while slip space ruptures were detected all around them. The next thing you know their powers gone and they just… vanished."

Lasky leaned back in his chair. He ran a hand through his hair before leaning forward. "Has anyone else gotten the distress calls?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Roland replied as his avatar flickered slightly. "No one's reported anything so far, but I have my suspicions the Sangheli may have received something."

"Why?"

"Well sir," The AI started, "they weren't far from Sangheli space. I wouldn't be surprised if the Arbiters men got a hold of the signal. Why they have't contacted us about it, I have no idea."

The Captain nodded. It was by sheer luck they had been nearby, investigating another deep space anomaly, when they picked up _The Intent'_ s distress signal. They had rushed to the scene only to find empty space.

"What about that construct the beacons reported about?"

"I'm still trying to get a read on it sir," Roland stated as he waved away the files that Lasky had clearly finished reading. "Nothing solid yet."

Again Lasky nodded. "Keep me updated, and get us to High Com as soon as possible."

"Sir." And with that, Roland vanished from the private holotable in Lasky's quarters.

The man leaned forward and with a cross movement of his hands, opened up a map of the galaxy. He ignored the glowing and licking lights and focused on the edge of the galaxy, where the Intent had gone missing.

A prowler, in UNSC space had just vanished. That didn't just happen, and what really worried him was this construct. Alice, the Intent's AI, had failed to identify it and now Roland was having trouble. Whatever readings they had gotten on the construct were obviously of an unknown origin. That meant not UNSC, Covenant, or even Forerunner.

So what the hell could've just made the ship vanish?

And where the hell were they?

Lasky sighed and stood up before he powered down the holotable. He walked out of his room, prepared to head to the bridge and inform his crew of the situation.

"Where are you Palmer?"

* * *

"Just die!"

Kathy spun, her blade sinking into the head of a thrall while her other hand powered up an arc grenade. She pulled her blade from flesh and threw her grenade right at the mass of Hive heading for her.

Lightning sported out and ripped the twenty or so Thrall's and Acolytes into a million pieces. She was forced to abandon her survey of the damage when a Knight swung for her head. She rolled under its swing and brought her shotgun to bare, then she blasted the knight at point blank range.

The shot damaged the Knight and it roared then swung at her once more. She sidestepped its next swing then fired again with her shotgun. The shots broke its chest plating, but it charged her. Wide eyed, she rolled out of the way before spinning to her knees and firing a third shot at the beast's back.

This time the shots brought the beast down with a satisfying cry.

She huffed once then teleported right behind a wizard that had turned its sights on her. She fired twice at its back but it turned quicker than expected and unleashed a flurry of arc bolts. She was forced to teleport above the wizard and landed on its shoulders. Her hands released her shotgun as she grabbed its shoulders.

Black fog blasted out from the the wizard, and Kathy's shields burned. She pulled her blade out and slammed it in between the hive creatures shoulders.

A strangled cry escaped the wizard. The hunter girt her teeth and dug her blade all the way to its hilt before she teleported again, this time in front of the wizard, and slapped her arc grenade on its face before she landed on the ground. It took a split second, but she teleported just as the grenade went off and sent the hive monster to hell.

She stumbled as she landed and drew her scout rifle. A few pot shots took out three more thralls and a few stray dregs from the Fallen reinforcements.

For a moment she listened.

The shooting had stopped, the shrieks had stopped, and with a sigh she lowered her weapon.

"Took long enough." She groaned as she stretched and felt her back pop. She hated fighting the hive. It required so much movement thanks to their monstrous attitudes and absolute dismay for fighting with actual tactics.

Chunks and shards of broken hives warriors laid around her feet and she kicked them away as she looked for her shotgun. She found it and slung it over her shoulder. The added weight went unnoticed and she scanned the area to see whether or not she was alone.

"Nice job killing that wizard. A little slow though if you ask me." Of course the hunter from team EXO, Varric, would be sitting atop a burned out car flipping his knife around, not even bothering to look at her as if he was bored.

Kathy grit her teeth. "Kiss my ass." She turned on her heel and looked for any other, more tolerable, Guardians.

Bodies lined the streets as she took a few steps closer to the crashed ship. In the midst of the fight she had been forced to make her way from the ship by several hundred feet so she could teleport amongst her enemies and gain an advantage.

It had been too close quarters, with hive and Fallen every two feet and a guardian fighting every three.

She was relieved to see the entirety of all four teams gathering next to the crashed ship. She wasn't relieved to see a dull white armored woman standing off to the side with her weapon raised at the Guardians.

 _So she survived…_ Kathy thought as she got closer to the downed ship.

"Good to see you didn't die. Thought we lost you." Jorah stated with a curt nod as she approached her fellow Guardians, her eyes never leaving the strange woman.

She replied, "can't kill me off that easily."

"Easier than you could kill a wizard." Varric said as he walked right by her, still flipping his knife over and over in his hand.

"Can it Varric." Kathy snapped back, momentarily losing her focus and shooting a glare at the hunter.

"Stop it. Both of you." Jorah ordered with a monotone voice. The titan turned around and looked right at where Kathys fellow fireteam members were- along with their would be kidnapper.

The armored woman stood with her weapon still raised at the group of guardians even though she was stuck between a warlock and titan.

Behind her mask Kathy raised an eyebrow. Not even five minutes after fighting and this woman was prepared to start another fight. She wondered what had her so confident.

"Now," Jorah started, "like I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, lets talk this out like civilized people."

The woman took a step back, the pistol still raised at them. Kathy raised her own weapon in response as did her team.

"You have no hostage, and you're outnumbered and outgunned." She heard the calm voice of Gorvon state.

She then added, "plus we just saved your ass from the Hive and Fallen. You owe us." Then a realization dawned on her. "And where are those forces that had us surrounded?"

Aside from the guardians and this mystery woman, she hadn't seen another person fighting or even shooting at the Hive or Fallen. A well played ruse on the mystery womans part.

"So," Jorah asked, "can we talk this out, Commander Palmer?"

The air froze and Kathy hardened her gaze. The woman wasn't relenting. She was going to-

"Fine." The woman, Commander Palmer, said. She lowered her weapon. "My Captain want's to speak with you."

Kathy spared a glance at the ship. She wondered how many more of them were on it. "You're from that ship?"

The Commander nodded once.

" **Jorah,"** she asked in a soft voice as Tyrion relayed her communications to a private Com channel so they could speak, **"what do you think?** **"**

" **We need to find out how many there are first. Maybe the Captain's more reasonable."** Jorah replied.

She grunted, **"maybe. wonder if their Awoken, or lost Exo."** She glanced back at the ship. **"They're definitely not Guardian's."**

" **That much is certain."** Then Jorah switched from their private channel to his speakers on his helmet. "I'll speak with your Captain."

The Commander was still, but Kathy could she the slight tilt of her head as she obviously studied them. She then took a step forward. "He's on the ship, but I can relay his voice through my helmet."

There was a barely audible tick of static then a new voice, **"my name is Gregory Holland of the United Nations Space Command, Captain of the Intent. Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking too?"**

It was a man. His voice was warm and far friendlier than the woman before them.

"My name is Jorah, leader of Fireteam Infinite and Guardian of the Last City."

Kathy raised an eyebrow. Since when did Jorah introduce himself like that? Then again she'd never seen him really introduce himself. Everyone in the Tower already knew who he was.

" **Jorah, I have to thank you and your fireteam for cleaning up those intruders out there. A few more hours and I'm sure they would've found a way to breach our hull."**

" **What about us?"** Kathy heard Marco complain over their private team channel, but she ignored him and listened.

Jorah relaxed and replied. "You're welcome Captain Holland, but I would be lying if I said we weren't trying to do the same thing."

" **Only makes sense. We did crash land on your planet."**

The leader of team Infinite then sighed. "Captain Holland as much as I appreciate the pleasantries, I must ask, who are you aligned with?"

 _Straight to the point then…_ Kathy thought.

There was a brief pause.

" **We're aligned with the UNSC, as I stated earlier.** " His voice was uncertain, not in the skeptical kind of way, but in the confused kind of way. It made Kathy question whether or not he was telling the truth.

"I don't know who or what the UNSC is." Jorah stated. She could see him tensing up under his armor. "but your soldier tried to take one of ours hostage. Not a good way of starting a relationship."

" **I apologize for her actions. She was acting under orders. I wasn't sure whether or not you were friendly. As you can see, our first impression of your planet wasn't a good one."**

" **Fallen always mess up everything don't they? Dicks."** Marco mumbled over their team channel. Kathy grinned at his jest.

Jorah then responded to the Captain, "well the Fallen aren't friendly to anyone other than themselves and the Awoken. They'll keep sending troops here to infiltrate your ship, and one way or another they'll figure out how to."

" **What do you suggest we do?"**

Jorah stepped towards Commander Palmer. "The way I see it you have two options. One," he raised one finger and pointed it straight at Palmer. "you stay here and die."

He lowered his finger. "Or two, you and your people come with us and we take you to the Speaker. He'll be the one to decide what happens to you next."

" **Well I'm sure you can understand my unwillingness to depart from my ship with a group of highly trained killers we just met."**

"I can, but either you decide quickly or we decide for you." Jorah said, his grip tightening on his weapon. "At least one of these options has a way of you not dying."

Kathy stepped forward, and over the private Comm line growled, **"Jorah, what are you doing? We can't risk taking someone like Palmer to the Speaker. Why would you even think that's a good idea?"**

" **We have to risk it. If we leave them here, they'll probably die, but if they come with us the Speaker could tell us who and what they are."**

" **Personally I can't sense any darkness or ill will in them. In fact, I can't even sense any light coming from them."** Gorvon then added.

" **Like the Cabal?"** She added.

" **Sort of, but their leader seems open to negotiations. Only makes sense we should try to get our leaders to talk it out rather than having us and another faction killing each other left and right."** The warlock replied.

" **That's the plan."** Jorah finished, then is voice announced from his helmet speakers, "whats your decision Captain Holland?"

There was silence.

Kathy's gaze narrowed.

"Captain?"

There was a hiss, the sounded of metal gears turning and pressure being released. All twelve guardians spun on their heels, weapons raised at the ship behind them.

She raised an eyebrow as the back half of the ship opened up and a ramp lowered to the ground.

A man with olive skin, short hair, and a warm smile walked down, flanked on either side by armed- what Kathy figured was- soldiers. The dirt crunched under his boots as he stepped off the ramp and walked towards the Guardians.

"We'll take option two, but I have a few conditions of my own." His voice filled the air.

Kathy though didn't register what he said.

All she knew is that she was surprised.

He was shorter than she expected.

The Captain then straightened himself and she couldn't help but be perplexed by his attire as well as his soldiers. Their armor looked ancient, and useless. It failed to cover their heads, and the material looked more frail then her vanity mirror.

But the biggest surprise: he was human.

Then Marco's voice filled her ears.

" **Well shit. The bastards human."**

* * *

"Captain Lasky."

Lasky gave a salute as he greeted, "Lord Hood."

The High Com Admiral nodded once at the younger Captain before he gestured to the seats in front of his desk.

As Lasky took a seat his eyes took in the office. It was grand, large and oval with a window in the back that overlooked the Sydney Bay, white pristine walls, beautiful paintings that hung on the walls, and was finally graced with the breath taking oak wood desk that sat in the center. If it wasn't for the holographic display on the far wall, and the one on his desk, Lasky would've thought he was in the long lost past.

"Captain Lasky," Lord Hood started as he took a seat.

"Do you know of the ONI station Argent Moon?" A new voice started and Lasky turned to see none other than Serin Osman, head of ONI, standing behind his seat. Instantly the Captain felt his gut twist. Osman was a shark, the shark of ONI. The woman who replaced Parangosky. He remembered being questioned by her about Halsey's escape.

"Can't say I do." Lasky replied as he clasped his hands behind his back. He could feel his heart accelerate.

Osman nodded. "Over eighteen month ago we lost contact with Argent moon. We don't have any reason as to why, but we've picked up Kig-Yar communications that indicate some of their scavengers have located the vessel."

"Osman wants you to send Blue team." Hood then added. Lasky glanced at him but said nothing about the cold gaze the Admiral sent towards Osman.

"Blue team?" Lasky questioned, turning to raise an eyebrow at Osman. "Why not just send a squad of Spartan IV's? Why blue team?"

Hood then continued, "As you know I ordered Blue Team for shore leave, but Spartans aren't very good at shore leave."

Lasky nodded. "Hence why you reassigned them to NAVSPECWAR."

"Yes," Hood nodded then waved his hand over his desk. A hologram of the galaxy appeared. "Argent Moon's located on the way to where we lost contact with the _Intent_." He pointed at two separate spots on the hologram. "You're to stop at Argent Moon and allow Blue team to recover all intel, then proceed to the Intents last known location once they've completed their mission."

"Sir, question," Lasky leaned forward in his chair. "why Blue Team?"

Hood's eyes locked on his but the man didn't speak instead it was Osman. "After the fiasco with Halsey we need a team we know can secure Argent moon without a shadow of a doubt."

Tom held his tongue. He had an entire contingent of Spartan IV's, but Osman found them inadequate. Of course the Spartan II's were legend, especially the Master Chief, but it was rather insulting for her to think his people weren't enough.

"Blue team will arrive in twenty two hours, after that head out." Hood stated, his voice softer as if trying to sooth the tense atmosphere.

Lasky looked at him and nodded. "Yes sir."

* * *

"What the hell do you mean the Speaker and Cade are only letting team Infinite sit in?" Marco growled as he shot up from his seat in the lounge.

"I mean exactly what I said." Kathy snapped, her eyes burning into the larger mans angry gaze as she walked down the last step to their designated hangout- the lounge in the hangar. Most Guardians didn't hang out here, but they liked to since no one else did.

Marco pursed his lips and broke the stare down as he turned his back to her and sat down. Kathy shook her head as Leon placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's just pissed that they get all the credit."

"They always do." Marco growled as he crossed his legs and narrowed his gaze at the two.

"Grow up, Marco." Kathy sighed, walking past him and plopping herself down onto one of the other couches.

"I mean, he's not wrong." Becky, from fireteam Foxtrox, added as she sipped on her glass of wine- which Kathy wasn't sure where she had got from. "Infinite does tend to get a lot of credit."

"Well what do you expect, they're the best." Gorvon added from where he was leaning against the wall, polishing his helmet.

"The best at what bragging?" Marco scoffed. "Jerks get all the fun."

"Boo hoo." Kathy quipped as Tyrion popped out next to her, floating up to face her with a light twist.

"Tyrion, you agree with me right?" Marco asked as he leaned towards the ghost.

The ghost hesitated. "Id rather not say."

"Man, Kathy has you whipped."

"Kathy, has never tried to physically harm me with a whip."

The Titan groaned while Leon and Gorvon laughed. Becky rolled her eyes and returned to drinking her wine.

"Ignore them Tyrion. Whats up?" The red headed hunter said as she turned her attention to her ghost and the other returned to their own conversations.

"Yes," The startled little AI quipped, "Cayde is looking for you."

Everyone stopped talking and Kathy felt the heat threatening to rise in her cheeks. She could feel their eyes. Their curiosity. "Why?"

"I am uncertain. He simply sent you a message saying that you need to meet him in the Hall of Guardians."

She looked at Marco who shrugged, then at Leon who stated, "well at least you get to do something."

Kathy sighed. "I'd rather not. Cade has a tendency to send us on suicide missions."

"He means well." Gorvon coughed before shaking his head and grabbing the wine glass Becky held out to him.

"Yeah." The hunter shook her head before standing up as Tyrion dissolved into nothing.

"Let me know if you need anything." Leon added as he took her seat.

Marco rolled his eyes. "Yeah same here. Unless it has anything to do with getting you new clothes. Last time I helped you with that I ended up waiting for you outside that shop for six hours."

"Whatever." She quipped back as she made her out of the lounge and up the stairs.

The sounds of ship landing, and taking off filled her ears. She tuned out the conversations of her fellow guardians as she walked by, especially Roni 55-30. Damn machine was always trying to get her to buy new gear.

She hopped up the next set of steps, walked through the next hall, then out into the open where Master Rahool, the Cryptarch, was talking to several guardians.

Rahool sent her a nod which she returned before continuing on her way to the hall. There were a few more sets of stairs that she treaded, then passed the crucible quarter masters before she found herself walking into the hall of Guardians.

Surprisingly it was empty. Even the frames- the machines that helped maintain the Tower- were gone.

Kathy blinked a few times before she heard a clink and turned to her right.

There was Cayde, one foot planted against the wall and hands wrapped around a screen that he was apparently trying to pull off the wall. He was frozen, staring at Kathy like she had caught him red handed.

The two stared for what seemed like an eternity, Kathy confused beyond reason as to what Cayde was doing, and Cayde staring at her like she was going to hardcore judge him for what he was doing.

Finally the Exo hunter chuckled. "Let's face it this isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing." He turned back to the screen and ripped it off the wall with a screech of metal on stone. He stared at it then tossed the screen to the floor before wiping his hand together and fully turning to face Kathy.

Kathy shook her head before speaking up. "Uh, what exactly were you doing?"

"Oh that." Cade laughed. "Well Zavala wanted the Frames to start remodeling the place for some reason, just a small renovation, and I hate that damn thing so I decided to help theorems out and rip it out of the wall for them."

"And where are the frames? And Zavala? And Ikora?"

"Oh the frames are on lunch break. No idea where the other are. Probably kicking puppies or something." Cade shrugged. He spun away and wake down to the table in the middle of the room, gesturing for Kathy to follow.

She complied and cautiously moved up behind him. "So why am I here?"

"Oh yeah." Cade said, closing the video game he had just opened up on the tables holo computer. "Sorry about this Kathy but I have an off the books mission for you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Cayde, last time I went on an off the books mission for you I almost got eaten by a giant lizard."

"Yeah that was kind of funny."

"No it wasn't!"

"Well it was funny if you weren't the one about to get eaten. Either way I knew you could handle it. You're the best hunter we have! Besides me of course." Cayde shrugged.

"Varric's the best." Kathy rolled her eyes. She hated the prick, but even she knew he was better.

He waved off her comment. "He's an ass. Besides, you're way more reliable, and him and team Exo are already out on another assignment on the moon investigating some boring disturbances in one of those hive temples."

The next thing that happened was Cayde pulled up a hologram of the solar system. He turned to face the red head and pointed his thumb at the hologram. "This is our solar system."

She raised an eyebrow.

"As you know Kathy we've never sent anyone farther than the Reef. Not after the collapse." He moved his hand and suddenly the hologram zoomed in on a massive planet; Jupiter. "Well, a few hours ago we received a ping on our encrypted channel. The Ghosts analyzed it, and well its one of ours."

"Wait what?" Kathy asked, her interested suddenly spiked and her eyes wide. Why would a Guardian be so far out?

"Yeah thats what I said." Cade replied in a darker voice than before. "The ping was distress signal. We don't know whose though. All Guardians were already accounted for, and after todays events, well it looks like to much of a coincidence."

"And you want me to?"

Cayde turned to her and crossed his arms. "I want you to go out there and figure out where the hell this came from, and who the hell's out there."

"Hmph." Kathy frowned, studying the map in front of them.

"What do Zavala and Ikora think about it?"

"Think? Who the hell's idea do you think it was? I just volunteered you because you're fast, you're smart, and you're agile. If anyone can get this done its you."

She decided to take that as a compliment.

"Anyway," Cayde continued, "the flight out there should take a few hours and we've cleared you for three days of leave. When you get there go with twelve hours of radio silence before contacting us. Make sure no one's listening in. After that report in what you find and we'll be with you the whole way. If you don't report back in forty eight hours we're sending the rest of your team and team Foxtrox to find you."

"Got it." Kathy said with a huff. Not even a day of actual rest and she was already being tossed out to the wolves.

"Good." He turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She froze and narrowed her eyes once more at Cayde. "If this is the part where you admit your undying love for me…"

Cayde grinned. "Be careful, Kathy. Something about this…" He shook his head and glanced out the window on the far end of the room.

"Something about this just rubs me the wrong way."

* * *

 **A/N Heres another chapter! Finally… As you can see things are changing in both universes. Granted no big changes yet, and the canon stories will progress like they do in game. Eventually though we'll see major changes but that's still awhile away. Anyway hope you enjoy! God bless and Review! If you have any questions PM or leave a Review. I'll get back to you as soon as possible.**

 **\- Metal4k**


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